1. Field
The present invention relates to encoding multimedia data on a wireless network, and more specifically to adapting one or more encoding parameters of the multimedia data based on a current capacity of the wireless network.
2. Background
Multimedia data may be encoded for transmission over a wireless network. When multimedia data is encoded, the methods and parameters of the encoding process may control the fidelity of the data provided to a receiver. When the receiver decodes the encoded data, for example, to play a video or audio file, the quality of the multimedia experience may at least in part relate to the fidelity of the encoded data.
The level of fidelity of the data provided may also affect the size of the encoded multimedia data. For example, high fidelity encoded data may be larger than encoded data providing a lower quality multimedia experience. Some networking environments, for example, some uncongested network environments, provide adequate capacity to transmit the high fidelity encoded data with a relatively low latency and packet loss rate. In these environments, the high fidelity data may provide a good user experience. Other network environments do not provide a capacity sufficient to transfer high fidelity data with an acceptable latency and loss rate. These networking environments may suffer from traffic congestion or service outages caused by equipment being offline or other reasons. A poor user experience may result in these environments.
The network capacity of a given network environment may itself vary between the uncongested and congested environments described above. For example, networks may experience peak usage periods that result in relatively high latencies and low bandwidth per user, with the further possibility of packet losses. Off-peak periods may provide improvements in latency and loss rates. In these networking environments, a transmission rate tailored to off-peak network capacities may result in a poor user experience during peak periods, as the high fidelity data transmitted during these periods may exceed the network's capacity, resulting in dropped packets and high latencies. Similarly, transmission rates suitable for peak periods with acceptable latencies and loss rates may provide a lower fidelity user experience than is possible during off-peak periods. During off-peak periods when network capacity is relatively high, the lower transmission rates may underutilize network capacity.